That day, Yun Yingge was punished by Li Dianshan and required to clean the main kitchen of the Royal Kitchen by herself. By the time the lamps were extinguished, Yun Yingge still hadn’t finished, and she didn’t dare light a lamp, so she could only continue cleaning by the faint moonlight. Seeing this, Zhenzhen and Feng Xian went together to quietly help Yun Yingge complete the remaining work.
The three groped around in the dark, finally managing to wipe clean all the places that needed cleaning. They sat side by side under the window where moonlight seeped in to rest, all feeling utterly exhausted. After resting for a while, Feng Xian turned to Yun Yingge and said: “Your punishment this time was quite unfair. Those two tasks you were given were just presenting food to nobles – what’s so difficult about that? Why must you repeatedly decline, causing yourself such hardship now?”
Yun Yingge didn’t explain, burying her head on her knees in silence for a long while, then began sobbing again.
Zhenzhen gently patted her shoulder in comfort: “Whatever difficulties you have, you might as well tell us. Perhaps we can give you some advice. Even if we can’t help you solve the problem, at least if we know the reason, we can help you handle similar tasks next time.”
Yun Yingge remained silent. Feng Xian then said: “Very well, Sister must have her difficulties that are inconvenient to discuss in detail. Then let’s do this – in the future, if there are things you don’t want to do, tell us first, and we’ll request permission from the female officials in advance to do them for you.”
Yun Yingge wiped her tears, choking as she said: “I trust both sisters and am willing to tell you everything about my situation. It’s just that this matter is neither big nor small, my mind is in chaos, and I don’t know what to do. In any case, I hope both sisters will help me keep it secret and not tell others for now.”
Seeing both Zhenzhen and Feng Xian nod in agreement, Yun Yingge began to tell her story: “I come from Mingzhou and am my family’s only daughter. When my father was young, he made a living by giving back rubs and massages at a public bathhouse. Later, when he had some savings, he opened his own bathhouse, and gradually it grew bigger and bigger. Now it’s quite well-known in Mingzhou.”
Zhenzhen asked: “Is it the Yun Yifu Bathhouse?”
Yun Yingge confirmed this, and Zhenzhen repeatedly said: “I’ve heard of it. It’s the foremost bathhouse in Mingzhou and has opened several branch stores.”
Yun Yingge continued: “My mother is a cook who used to work for wealthy households. After marrying my father, she helped him manage the store business. In her spare time, she taught me cooking, so I’ve known how to cook since childhood. But my parents never let me work as a cook outside. They even hired teachers to teach me reading, writing, and music, always raising me like a young lady from a good family, hoping to find me a good husband and escape the fate of being looked down upon by the world as people of mixed trades.”
Feng Xian sighed: “Your parents treat you so well. They must worry greatly about your marriage.”
Yun Yingge nodded: “From when I was fourteen, they asked matchmakers to search everywhere for good families, wanting me to marry into a scholarly-official household. However, no scholarly-official families were willing to intermarry with those of commerce and mixed trades, especially since our family runs bathhouses. Later, the matchmaker we hired said there was a scholar of suitable age and appearance, from a clean family background, who was also intelligent and would surely pass the imperial examinations in the future. It was just that his family was currently poor and he needed financial support for his studies. Why not have our family form this marriage alliance, support his studies, and when he succeeded in the future, I would naturally become the wife of a scholar-official. My parents arranged to meet him, and I secretly looked at him from behind a screen. He was indeed handsome, and his speech and behavior were elegant, so this marriage was quickly settled, with the wedding planned for after he participated in the imperial examinations.”
Zhenzhen somewhat understood: “So he’s one of the jinshi from the Wenxi Banquet. Since he passed the examinations, shouldn’t everyone be happy? But why did you enter the Royal Kitchen?”
Yun Yingge said sadly: “It’s a long story. After our engagement, he often wrote me letters and even arranged for me to meet him privately several times. We were both pleased with each other’s appearance and character. His letters were always full of tender feelings, and I wholeheartedly believed he was my good husband. I begged my parents not only to support his studies but also to let him move to new quarters and give him a substantial monthly allowance for his use. Whatever he requested, we satisfied without exception. He also lived up to our expectations, placing first in the prefecture examinations and becoming the jieyuan.”
Feng Xian understood: “Now that his reputation soared, I’m afraid he wanted to change his mind.”
Yun Yingge nodded: “He was originally a poor scholar no one paid attention to. After becoming jieyuan, his family suddenly had a constant stream of visitors – some seeking marriage alliances, some flattering him, some wanting to fund his journey to the capital for the imperial examinations, and others coming as matchmakers. He said he was already engaged, and when others asked and learned he was to marry me, they all sneered, saying he would naturally rise in the world – how could he marry into the mixed trades? In the future, when colleagues asked and learned his father-in-law gave back rubs, they didn’t know how they would mock him. Hearing such words often, he also felt uneasy and came to my home, subtly revealing his intention to break the engagement. But when my father heard this, he immediately became furious, scolding him face-to-face for being ungrateful. In his anger, he even took off his shoe to beat him, saying the marriage would absolutely not be broken. If he insisted on breaking it, he would simply beat this heartless man to death and pay with his own life – it wouldn’t be unfair. Seeing my father so resolute, he didn’t dare mention breaking the engagement again. He smiled apologetically, said some nice words, and slipped away.”
Zhenzhen said contemptuously: “This person has evil intentions. Since he had the idea of breaking the engagement, he definitely wouldn’t give up and would certainly resort to crooked schemes.”
Yun Yingge’s eyes reddened again. She covered her mouth to suppress the sobs rising in her throat. After a while, she adjusted her tone and continued: “Later, he wrote me another letter, asking me to meet him at a secluded place by the river near a bridge. He instructed me not to tell anyone and to come alone. I had always trusted him, so I hid it from my parents and secretly went. When I saw him, he looked utterly miserable and said his mother was threatening to die if he didn’t break the engagement with me. I said I had no solution either – my father wouldn’t listen to anyone’s persuasion, and mentioning breaking the engagement would make him fight desperately. My fiancé then said: ‘We’re in such a difficult position, and either way we’re being unfilial. Living in this world has no meaning, so why not go to the Yellow Springs together and peacefully be a couple in the afterlife?’ I was momentarily bewitched, feeling everything he said made sense. His words made me feel sorrowful, and I didn’t want to live anymore, so I agreed to die with him. He then took my hand and led me to the center of the bridge, pulling me to jump into the water.”
Feng Xian sneered: “He knew how to swim, but you certainly didn’t.”
“Sister is right – that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, I still didn’t understand then, or rather, didn’t want to believe it,” Yun Yingge said through sobs. “After falling into the water, I began to struggle, reaching out everywhere, but couldn’t touch him at all. For a moment I surfaced from the water and saw him swimming. I wanted to call out, but the water quickly submerged me, and I nearly died in the river. Fortunately, fate didn’t want me to die. After drowning for a while, I was rescued by a passing boatman. When I was revived, the kind boatman asked where I lived and sent me home.”
Zhenzhen asked: “Did your father pursue your fiancé’s criminal responsibility?”
Yun Yingge said: “Father went to his house to look for him, but he hadn’t returned home. His mother instead insisted that I had seduced him into jumping into the water and cried, demanding my family pay with a life. At that time, he was neither seen alive nor found dead, so Father didn’t know whether he had actually died and couldn’t pursue the matter further. From then on, he never appeared in Mingzhou again. My parents wanted to find me another good match, but after this experience, I had no expectations for marriage and felt disheartened and depressed for a long time. Later, when I heard the Royal Kitchen was selecting palace servants, I suddenly thought that if he were alive, he would surely go to the capital for the imperial examinations. On impulse, I applied for selection. Unexpectedly, this selection really only looked at cooking skills and not family background, so I was indeed selected and entered the Royal Kitchen.”
Feng Xian, remembering the events of the Wenxi Banquet day, said: “You didn’t want to serve food in Jingyi Pavilion, which shows your fiancé was in the pavilion.”
Zhenzhen also said: “And you didn’t want to face the Shen mother and daughter, indicating your fiancé is connected to the Shen family.”
“Yes,” Yun Yingge sighed deeply, “my former fiancé is Tanhua Fu Junyi.”
After these words, the three fell into brief silence. After a moment, Feng Xian asked Yun Yingge: “Given how things stand, what do you plan to do?”
Yun Yingge said: “I just don’t know, which is why my mind is in chaos. I’m alone and powerless. Even when my father was by my side, we couldn’t do anything to him. Now he has achieved high success as Tanhua and is about to marry the Vice Premier’s daughter. I’m just an insignificant little palace servant – what can I do? I can probably only watch helplessly as he enjoys his beautiful wife and high position.”
“He invited you to die while escaping himself – this was clearly intentional murder and violates the law. He cannot be easily forgiven,” Zhenzhen said seriously. “This matter should be made public so he receives the punishment he deserves. Such a vicious villain – if we let him rise smoothly, who knows how he might harm the country and people in the future.”
“Although that’s true,” Feng Xian asked Yun Yingge, “do you have evidence that he plotted to harm you?”
Yun Yingge hesitated: “I have the letters he wrote me, including the one asking me to meet him by the river. I brought them all to the capital.”
“Just asking you to meet by the river isn’t enough,” Feng Xian said. “He could argue he only asked you to meet to say goodbye and didn’t expect you to jump into the water after he left. Or alternatively, he did indeed jump into the water with you seeking death but was rescued like you were. He has many kinds of reasons he could use to defend himself.”
Yun Yingge sighed: “This is also what I’m concerned about.”
Feng Xian said: “If you don’t want to continue enduring and let him enjoy success, the urgent matter is to prevent him from marrying Vice Premier Shen’s daughter.”
Zhenzhen nodded in agreement and added: “It’s very difficult for us to see Vice Premier Shen. I saw that the young lady of the Shen family is quite intelligent and spirited. Why not find a way to tell her about this first? Since it concerns her lifelong happiness, she certainly wouldn’t want her later life ruined by such a person.”
Yun Yingge said: “It’s just that if we tell her directly, she might not believe us. If she then says we’re framing her husband-to-be, we’ll have difficulty explaining ourselves.”
Zhenzhen thought for a moment and said: “In two more days it will be the Dragon Boat Festival. Today I heard Consort Li invite the Shen mother and daughter to enter the palace then to attend the Dragon Boat Festival performance. Perhaps we can think of a way to tactfully tell Miss Shen about this matter.”